AirAsia India flies into `19 cr loss in March quarter

In signs that AirAsia India’s target of achieving break even in the first year of operations might take longer, the no-frills carrier has reported a loss of Rs 19 crore in the first three months of 2015.

The carrier, which started its operations in India last June, raked in Rs 74.39 crore in the January-March period. AirAsia India is a joint venture in which AirAsia Berhard owns 49 per cent, Tata Sons has 30 per cent and the rest is with Arun Bhatia’s Telestra Tradeplace. The financial numbers for India operations have been disclosed by AirAsia Berhard while announcing the results for the 2015 March quarter this week.

According to the parent Malaysian airline, AirAsia India carried nearly 2,38,000 passengers contributing a revenue of Rs 3,131 per passenger during the March quarter. Ancillary income per passenger was at Rs 248 while the seat load factor was 79 per cent. In a filing made by AirAsia Berhard to the Malaysian stock exchange, AirAsia India incurred a loss of Rs 19 crore in the three months ended March 2015 while revenue stood at Rs 74.39 crore during the same period.

“As the Group’s interest in AirAsia India has been reduced to zero, in accordance with MFRS128, any profits will only be recognised when a total of RM (Malaysian Ringgit) 5 million of unrecognised losses have been reversed,” it said. The results have been prepared using the equity method, as permitted by the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board MFRS128, Investments in Associates. Even as AirAsia India only started operations in June last year, the carrier had recorded a loss of Rs 8 crore.

AirAsia India’s chief executive Mittu Chandilya, in February, had said the airline was expected to break even by May-June this year. Initially, the break even target was set for November 2014. Earlier this month, the carrier said it has deferred the one-plane-per-month fleet expansion plan, and expects to end the year with 7-10 planes from the present five.

In January, the airline had announced that it would add one plane per month from March onwards, which would have taken its fleet strength to around 14. However, its fleet has grown by only one plane to five now.